Krebs v. Graveley (E.D. Wis. 2020)
Federal trial court in Wisconsin dismissing a First Amendment complaint alleging the unconstitutionality of a Wisconsin state law prohibiting name changes for people with past sex offense convictions.
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Butler (Pa. 2020)
Pennsylvania Supreme Court opinion affirming the constitutionality of Pennsylvania’s ‘sexually violent predator’ designations, which require additional fact-finding beyond a conviction for a sexual offense.
United States v. Herndon (5th Cir. 2020)
5th Circuit Court of Appeals vacating various conditions of supervised release imposing bans on internet access, computer use, and other activities and remanding for re-sentencing.
United States v. Wass (4th Cir. 2020)
4th Circuit Court of Appeals opinion reversing dismissal of federal indictment for failure to register, finding that non-delegation principles were not violated, and that federal SORNA was not puntive.
In re H.D. (N.J. 2020)
New Jersey Supreme Court opinion holding that legislature did intend for minor, non-sexual offenses committed subsequent to a conviction for a sexual offense to forever bar relief for those seeking to be able to deregister.
Laughlin v. United States (E.D. Tenn. 2020)
Federal trial court for the Eastern District of Tennessee denying Petitioner’s heabeas corpus motion to vacate her guilty plea where state of Tennessee required her registration as a sex offender despite federal law not requiring her to do so.
Foley v. State (Tenn. Ct. Crim. App. 2020)
Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals opinion vacating the guilty plea of the Petitioner who pled guilty as a juvenile to an offense that did not require registration at the time of his plea, but subsequently required registration.
McClain v. State (Tex. Ct. App. 2020)
Texas Court of Appeals opinion reversing trial court’s order revoking the supervision of Appellant and imposing a life sentence of imprisonment for failing to register, where the state failed to establish that Appellant knew he had a duty to register in his circumstances and where police interfered with his attempts to comply with the law.
United States v. Arbaugh (4th Cir. 2020)
4th Circuirt Court of Appeals opinion affirming in part a federal sentence for engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor in a foreign country, but reversing in part on the grounds that the district court failed to articulate reasons supporting computer-related conditions of supervised release.
United States v. Clark (8th Cir. 2020)
8th Circuit Court of Appeals opinion holding that trial court’s instructions on ‘knowing’ with respect to a federal failure to register offense were not in error and did not require that the jury disregard Appellant’s mistake-of-fact defense.
United States v. Belcher (11th Cir. 2020)
11th Circuit Court of Appeals opinion affirming the district court’s imposition of various computer-related restrictions of supervised release on an individual who was not on supervision for a sex offense, but had a past conviction for a sex offense.
John Doe et al. v. Richard Snyder (E.D. Mich. 2020)
Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan granting permanent injunction, prohibiting in total the enforcement of any of Michigan’s sex offense registration scheme to anyone who had committed their offenses prior to 2011, as well as prohibiting the enforcement of numerous provisions to any persons required to register.
Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws v. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (Cal. Ct. App. 3rd 2020)
California Court of Appeal decision finding that California state regulations excluding those convicted of non-violent sex offenses from parole eligibility contradicted plain text of a ballot initiatve, and thus was unlawful.
United States v. Pilcher (2nd Cir. 2020)
2nd Circuit Opinion finding that the denial of the request of a habeas corpus litigant to proceed under a pseudonym is appealable under the collateral order doctrine, but that the trial court properly denied Appellant’s request.
State v. Reynolds (Wash. Ct. App. 2020)
Washington Court of Appeals vacating conviction for failure to register, where registration depended on foreign state law and thus violated principles of nondelegation.
People v. Kochevar (Ill. Ct. App. 2020)
Illinois Court of Appeals vacating a prior judgment holding that Illinois’ sex offense registration violated federal and state constitutional principles, in light of Illinois Supreme Court precedent that it lacked jurisdiction to consider constitutional challenges to registration on direct appeal.
United States v. Hines (Dist. R.I. 2020)
District Court Report and Recommendation analyzing the impact of United States v. Haymond in the context of the revocation of supervision where the basis for revocation was possession of unlawful images.
State v. Allen (Tenn. 2020)
Tennessee Supreme Court decision holding that trial court was without jurisdiction to modify order dismissing indictments for failure to register, and further commented on lack of apparent Due Process protections in Tennessee’s statutory scheme.
State v. Bouchard (Vt. 2020)
Vermont Supreme Court striking down several conditions of supervision for individual who had pled guilty to a sex offense, including prohibitions related to possession of pornography, warrantless search and computer monitoring.
Parker v. Bourdon (10th Cir. 2020)
10th Circuit Court of Appeals affirming the dismissal of a constitutional challenge to registration as being time-barred.
Thomas v. Blocker (3rd Cir. 2020)
3rd Circuit Court of Appeals affirming denial of preliminary injunction, holding that federal law imposed independent registration requirements on Appellant even if state law would not otherwise require registration.
In re Parole of Ronald Irwin (Mich. Ct. App. 2019)
Michigan Court of Appeals reversing a decision denying parole to an person who was serving a sentence for sex offenses, on the grounds that the parole board did not abuse its discretion and that a treatment completion requirement did not violate state law.
Peele v. State (Ind. Ct. App. 2020)
Court of Appeals of Indiana reversing a trial court dismissal of a petition for removal from Indiana’s sex offense registry on the basis that the trial court erroneously concluded that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction.
Mathews v. Becerra (Cal. 2019)
California Supreme Court Opinion holding that a lawsuit brought by therapists challenging a state law that mandated reporting to authorities whenever a client disclosed viewing illegal images to them stated a cognizable privacy claim under the California state constitution.
McClernon v. State (Ind. Ct. App. 2019)
Indiana Court of Appeals finding that a statute that requires people compelled to register to submit information on vehicles they operate “on a regular basis” was not void for vagueness.
State v. Jackson (Wis. Ct. App. 2019)
Wisconsin Court of Appeals opinion finding that state statute that required disclosure of internet identifiers was not facially unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
Does v. Abbott et al (5th Cir. 2019)
5th Circuit Court of Appeals opinion affirming the dismissal of constitutional challenge to Texas’ sex offense registration scheme for failure to state a claim on Due Process, Ex Post Facto, 8th Amendment, and Double Jeopardy grounds.
United States v. Kosier (D. N.M. 2019)
District Court for New Mexico opinion finding that, in the context of a federal sentencing for a non-sex offense, the government could not impose sex offender conditions of release on the Defendant where the offense of instant conviction was not a sex offense and his only sex offense was more than ten years old.
Doe v. Connors (HI 2019)
Hawaii Supreme Court reversing an administrative finding that Petitioner’s out-of-state offense would qualify for registration, where the record was unclear as to whether the elements of Petitioner’s offense would satisfy Hawaii statutory requirements.
United State v. Helton (4th Cir. 2019)
4th Circuit Court of Appeals holding that a violation of South Carolina’s voyeurism statute constitutes a “sex offense” for the purposes of federal SORNA.